The Intersection of Autism and Addiction, with Dr. Brandon Park
After a long search for a trustworthy specialist, I finally cover a topic I’ve been wanting to dig into - neurodiversity and addiction. When I found neuropsychologist Dr. Brandon Park, Founder of New Focus Academy, I knew I had someone with the expertise I needed. In this episode, Dr. Park explains why kids with autism can find themselves especially susceptible to addictions – not just to alcohol and drugs, but also technology use and other behaviors. He also shares what parents need to know when considering treatment for a child who is neurodiverse - it’s a do-not-miss conversation.
Dr. Gabor Maté on The Myth of Normal; the roots of our kids’ struggles, pressure on today’s parents, the need for community, and a path to healing
Dr. Gabor Maté is one of the world’s foremost experts on a range of topics including addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship between stress and illness. He’s the bestselling author of five books published in over thirty languages, and his newest book, The Myth of Normal, was the subject of our conversation. For parents seeking insight and direction about their kids who are struggling with mental health and substance use, you’ll find rich concepts to consider and bring into your family’s healing journey.
teasing apart the complexities of gender identity, neurodiversity, substance use and mental health in young people, with Sean Garcia
If there's a perfect storm of complexity and confusion for parents of adolescents and young adults it's the intersection of a mental health condition, neurodiversity, substance use and gender or sexual identity. It's overwhelming to know which aspect of these to address first, or do you address them all at once?
Beyond Addiction’s Carrie Wilkens: using science and kindness as motivation for change in your child's substance use
“If you expect your kid to come out of rehab and be sober for good, that's like asking your kid to play a Chopin etude and they've never played the piano. What's actually happening is your kid needs to take piano lessons with a beginning instructor. He's going to earn some learn some easy pieces and work really hard. He's probably going to learn some stuff wrong and he's kind of have to, like, relearn it. At some stage he might have to get a different teacher because that's, he outgrew that teacher. He's going to have to practice more things. He's going to have to find the music he likes to play, you know, where does he like to play it? Does he like to play by himself? Does it like to play? You know, like there's so much learning. We have so much compassion for the learning process in other areas, we don't have a ton of compassion for the learning process when it comes to behavior change around addiction and substance use problems.”
teens, addiction, residential care and natural highs, with Derek Bowles
Hello and welcome to today's episode of Hopestream. This is Brenda Zane and I am very excited for today's episode because I think it's going to help answer a lot of questions that parents have around treatment options for their teen and adolescent children who might be getting into trouble or, or might be abusing substances. When you are looking for help for a teen, it's extremely confusing. There's a ton of information. Google is, is full of data, but you're really scared and you don't know what to do at that time. So I think today's episode is going to be incredibly helpful with lots of information on that. And today's guest is the co founder and lead therapist at crossroads Academy to residential treatment center in Ogden, Utah. He has a master's in clinical social work from BYU and has been with Crossroads since it opened in 2007 and he and the staff at Crossroads are really near and dear to my heart because they had a significant impact on my son's recovery process. So I am very happy and grateful to introduce Derek Bowles.